iOS 8.3 Can Initiate Phone Calls On Speakerphone Using ‘Hey Siri’

The latest beta release of iOS 8.3 download now finally enables the iPhone’s speakerphone when Siri is used to initiate a phone call using the ‘Hey Siri’ command.

Even before iOS 8.2 was in the hands of iPhone and iPad owners around the globe, iOS 8.3 was being beta tested by developers. That beta testing period is still ongoing with Apple bringing beta to public last week, and with new features arriving and alterations to existing ones popping up with each new test release.

Not all of those additions are obvious though, and even though the current beta of iOS 8.3 has been around for a little while now, one new feature has just started to come to light.

If you have used iOS 8’s new feature that brought Siri activation via the ‘Hey Siri‘ command, so long as the device is plugged in, then you may have noticed one curious fact. Oddly, initiating a phone call via this method would not see the phone automatically choose to enable the speakerphone, which is probably something you’ll want to happen given the way you activated Siri in the first place.

Thankfully, with Apple’s latest iOS 8.3 beta release, Siri will enable the speakerphone for a phone call if it is asked to dial on speaker, as can be seen in the screenshot below. It makes so much sense, we wonder how this wasn’t there in the first place. We guess that’s what betas are for.

With Apple having given no indication of when iOS 8.3 will be released, we have no idea how many betas are going to see the light of day before the final download goes live for everyone. Until then, we’ll keep an eye on which additions make the betas. Right now it looks like this new Siri feature will join improved Emoji support, wireless support for CarPlay and the ability to sign into Google accounts that use two-factor authentication. Finally.